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Saturday, January 8, 2011

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: K-12 FUNDING, POLICY ON RADAR FOR NEW CONGRESS

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: K-12 FUNDING, POLICY ON RADAR FOR NEW CONGRESS
K-12 FUNDING, POLICY ON RADAR FOR NEW CONGRESS By Alyson Klein - EdWeek | Vol. 30, Issue 15 | http://bit.ly/dQrUi6 House members take their oath of office during the first session of the 112th Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 5. The Republican Party now controls the U.S. House of ...
TO BROWN ADMINISTRATION: ADEQUATE, EQUITABLE, RATIONAL SCHOOL FUNDING Themes in the News for the week of Jan. 3-7, 2011 By UCLA IDEA | http://bit.ly/9k0ADx 01-07-2011 - California schools search for hopeful signs as the Jerry Brown administration settles into office. But the only thing that many districts can count on is ...
BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH KIRST & HONIG: Brown names seven to State Board By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/g3kG2F 1/06/11 •Three decades after naming Michael Kirst and Bill Honig to the State Board of Education, Gov. Jerry Brown has turned to them again. Now, like Brown, in their early 70s, they will lead ...
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Research: The Educational BS Repellant | Connected Principals

Research: The Educational BS Repellant | Connected Principals

Research: The Educational BS Repellant

by cbirk


I don’t like BS. I don’t like it when people make bold, loud claims about different aspects of education, about what works and what doesn’t. What is even more troublesome for me than these controversial statements is when I don’t have the research backing to quantitatively and qualitatively refute the BS. After many negative experiences challenging people on their beliefs without backing of my own, I have determined that people cling strongly to these thoughts (whether they are BS or not) unless you can provide research to them that might

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Schools Matter: Countering the No Excuses PR Machine

Schools Matter: Countering the No Excuses PR Machine

Countering the No Excuses PR Machine

by Jim Horn
The appeal of the No Excuses segregated chain gang schools for white conservative civil rights advocates (try Googling that phrase) has always been the total compliance behavioral regimen aimed to make those lazy and out-of-control negro children pay attention and work. For sure, there are no curriculum innovations, no instructional breakthroughs, and certainly no assessment experimentation that excites the Fisher or Walton Foundation to cough up between 40 and 60 million dollars each to fund these charter chains. It is, rather, an old-fashioned notion that is as American as apple pie and Sunday lynchings: working hard and keeping your mouth shut will earn you a place at the master's table, or at least a job cleaning up one of his box stores.

The innovation, real innovation, comes in the form of off-the-charts pay for school CEOs, once known as
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Ben Austin’s Antics, Continued | Seattle Education 2010

Ben Austin’s Antics, Continued | Seattle Education 2010

Ben Austin’s Antics, Continued

by seattleducation2010

...and now Celerity

Ben Austin, founder of the Parent’s Revolution and most recently embroiled in a battle over McKinley Elementary School, is no longer on the State Board of Education. He and others were replaced by the newly elected Governor Jerry Brown.

I have seen many an underhanded move by ed reformers under the guise that “it’s all about the children” but I must say that one of Austin’s moves definitely takes the cake.

During the attempted overthrow of McKinley Elementary School by Ben Austin using the Parent Trigger law

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Representative Gabrielle Giffords on Violent Political Rhetoric, March 2010 « Student Activism

Representative Gabrielle Giffords on Violent Political Rhetoric, March 2010 « Student Activism

Representative Gabrielle Giffords on Violent Political Rhetoric, March 2010

January 8, 2011 in Students

“Are you afraid? Are you fearful today?”

“You know, I’m not. We’ve had hundreds and hundreds of protesters over the course of the last several months. Our office corner has become a place where the Tea Party has congregated. And the rhetoric has become incredibly heated. Not just the calls, but the emails, the slurs. So things have really gotten spun up. But you gotta think about it. Our democracy is a light, a beacon really around the world because we effect change at the ballot box, and not because of these outbursts — of violence in certain cases, and the yelling, and it’s just … you know, change is important, it’s a part of our process, but it’s really important that we focus on the fact that we have a democratic process.”

“I think it’s important for all leaders, not just leaders of the Republican Party or the Democratic Party … community leaders, figures in our community to say, ‘Look, we can’t stand for this.’ I mean, this is a situation where people really need to realize that this rhetoric, and firing people up, and even things … For

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Palin forgot to scrub her Facebook page

Don’t Get Demoralized! Get Organized! Take Back the 20!

by Sarah Palin on Tuesday, March 23, 2010 at 6:41pm
With the president signing this unwanted and “transformative” government takeover of our health care system today with promises impossible to keep, let’s not get discouraged. Don’t get demoralized. Get organized!

We’re going to reclaim the power of the people from those who disregarded the will of the people. We’re going to fire them and send them back to the private sector, which has been shrinking thanks to their destructive government-growing policies. Maybe when they join the millions of unemployed, they’ll understand why Americans wanted them to focus on job creation and an invigorated private sector. Come November, we’re going to print pink slips for members of Congress as fast as they’ve been printing money.

We’re paying particular attention to those House members who voted in favor of Obamacare and represent districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during the 2008 election. Three of these House members are retiring – from Arkansas’s 2nd district, Indiana’s 8th district, and Tennessee’s 6th district – but we’ll be working to make sure that those who replace them are Commonsense Conservatives. The others are running for re-election, and we’re going to hold them accountable for this disastrous Obamacare vote. They are: Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-1), Harry E. Mitchell (AZ-5), Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), John Salazar (CO-3), Betsy Markey (CO-4). Allen Boyd (FL-2), Suzanne M. Kosmas (FL-24), Baron P. Hill (IN-9), Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), Charlie Wilson (OH-6), John Boccieri (OH-16), Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), Christopher Carney (PA-10), John M. Spratt, Jr. (SC-5), Tom Perriello (VA-5), Alan B. Mollohan (WV-1), and Nick J. Rahall II (WV-3).

We’ll aim for these races and many others. This is just the first salvo in a fight to elect people across the nation who will bring common sense to Washington. Please go to sarahpac.com and join me in the fight.

Stand tall, America. Real change is coming!

- Sarah Palin

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NYC Educator: Best Stay off Sarah Palin's Hit List

NYC Educator: Best Stay off Sarah Palin's Hit List

Best Stay off Sarah Palin's Hit List

A US Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, was shot and killed outside a Safeway today. The gunman shot her in the head, then turned his attention to the crowd, killing at least 5 others. She was apparently on Sarah Palin's target list, as a candidate to be defeated in the midterm election. Did one of Palin's followers take the target list literally?

Time will tell.
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From Sarah Palin’s web site. « Fred Klonsky's blog

From Sarah Palin’s web site. « Fred Klonsky's blog
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Winner Take All Governance? | Lefty Parent

Winner Take All Governance? | Lefty Parent

Winner Take All Governance?

by Cooper Zale

I read the title of the on-line CNN piece, “Democrats dismiss GOP health care repeal push”, and had to groan. Here we go again! A fresh new year, but the same old same old in terms of “us and them” thinking in our national governance. As a Unitarian-Universalist, ahardcore egalitarian and a “governance nerd”, it struck me that though I’m used to this kind of rhetoric from our Congressional reps, from the point of view of effective legislating, it is really quite dysfunctional and corrosive to the process.

Washington (CNN) — Top Democrats are dismissing Republicans’ plans to ram a repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul through the House of Representatives in the

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Saturday coffee. & Old School « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Saturday coffee.

by Fred Klonsky

We woke to a Saturday morning with about an inch of white stuff on the ground.

It has been a busy week back at work. I had a Smartboard installed in my classroom over break. With the usual lack of staff development that characterizes schools, I had to play around and teach myself some basics with the help of a few of the early adopters down the hall that have had Smartboards for a couple of years.

Frankly, the kids love it.

We were comparing tessellated designs to landscapes. I was pointing out that tessellations have no focal point. I had some students come up to a copy of Paris, Rainy Day by Gustave Caillebotte. “Circle the focal point,” I


Old School.

by Fred Klonsky

Marianne Faithful.


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New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools 1-8-11 Get Involved- Read Education News

New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools
Get Involved- Read Education News


Parents 4 democratic Schools
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Education: California's new Board of Education - latimes.com

Education: California's new Board of Education - latimes.com

California's new Board of Education

Gov. Jerry Brown's seven new appointees will dramatically alter the panel's make-up in age, geography and educational resume.

January 8, 2011

NEW MEMBERS

Carl Cohn: Co-director of the Urban Leadership Program at Claremont Graduate University; previously superintendent in San Diego and Long Beach.

Louis "Bill" Honig: President of the Consortium on Reading Excellence; state superintendent of public instruction from 1983 to 1993, resigned after being convicted of conflict-of-interest charges; served on the state Board of Education from 1975 to 1983.


Michael Kirst: Professor emeritus at Stanford University, where he has taught since 1969; served on the state Board of Education from 1975 to 1982.

Aida Molina: Executive director of academic improvement and accountability for Bakersfield City School District; previously on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; principal in Bakersfield and Sacramento.

James Ramos: Chairman of the San Manuel Band of Indians and member of the San Bernardino Community College Board of Trustees.

Patricia Ann Rucker: Lobbyist for the California Teachers Assn.; previously a teacher in Sacramento.

Trish Boyd Williams: Executive director for EdSource.

DEPARTING MEMBERS

Ted Mitchell: President and chief
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Del Valle or Braun to Recieve Chicago Teacher Union's Endorsement for Chicago Mayor - Hispanically Speaking News

Del Valle or Braun to Recieve Chicago Teacher Union's Endorsement for Chicago Mayor - Hispanically Speaking News

January 7, 2011

Del Valle or Braun to Recieve Chicago Teacher Union’s Endorsement for Chicago Mayor

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Published at 2:23 pm, January 7, 2011




The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has made the decision to endorse only one of two candidates in Chicago mayoral race. The endorsement will go to either former U.S. Carol Moseley Braun or City Clerk Miguel del Valle.

Hoping to play a major role in the February 22nd election, the CTU has narrowed the list to these candidates as it believes one of them will take control of Chicago Public Schools from the mayor and create an elected school board.

It should come as no surprise that candidate Rahm Emanuel is not one of those being considered by the CTU as his proposed education policies are not very well liked. Also,

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